Wait, you're a certified a Death Doula??

Long before Ayurveda became part of my work, before psychology, spirituality, healing and consciousness took the forefront, I studied and worked as a nurse’s aide.

I started at 18 years old in a senior citizens’ residence and went on to work in hospitals, long-term care and palliative care. This was where I was first introduced to the realities of illness, dying, grief, caregiving and the unpredictability of the human experience.

Most people know me through Ayurveda and healing, and less through how deeply end-of-life work has been part of my life. Six years ago, I formalized that experience more by becoming a Certified Death Doula through the International Association of Professions Career College, adding specialized training to the years I had already spent working alongside illness, dying and palliative care.

For years, my work as a Death Doula has remained relatively quiet. It is not something I have portrayed much on my website or social media because there is something about this work that has always felt very private.

It happens behind closed doors, in hospital rooms and bedrooms, through quiet conversations and moments shared between individuals and families. There are no photographs to post, and they are not my stories to share. It is work that asks for presence rather than recognition.

What I Actually Do as a Certified Death Doula

A Death Doula provides non-medical support to a person approaching the end of life and to the people who love and care for them. 

For me, that has meant sitting with someone who is dying so they are not alone, helping families understand and emotionally prepare for what may happen, and creating space for conversations about fears, wishes, grief, relationships, spiritual beliefs and what matters most.

Sometimes I am there simply because a family is overwhelmed and needs another steady person beside them. And believe me, that doesn't mean I always know what to say or do. Sometimes just being present does the speaking.

The work sometimes starts before someone is actively dying, or I may be called when a family is already in the midst of it. My role does not replace doctors, nurses or palliative-care teams. It is another layer of support, one centred on the human experience of dying.

And after death, that support can continue through grief, loss and transition for those left behind.

Every now and then, I go through my client files and close the files of people who have died. There is something about doing that that never becomes ordinary.

Those experiences change you.

So does my own experiences of losing people I love. Together, they have changed the way I understand healing, time and what truly matters.

We live in a time when healing has become an enormous $$$ industry. There is an overwhelming amount of information telling us what we should heal, how we should heal, what we should feel and which practice we should follow.

Some of it is valuable. Some of it, I believe, has taken us further away from ourselves.

Over the years, I have studied and practised psychology, religion, spirituality, Ayurveda, yoga, meditation, energy work, grief, consciousness and near-death experiences. I continue to study because I don't believe we ever arrive at a place where we know everything.

But after all these years, I keep returning to something much simpler:

Death teaches us how to live.

Healing isn't always about searching for what is wrong with us or trying to become some perfected version of ourselves. Sometimes it is about embracing where we have been without allowing the past to consume the present. It is acknowledging the grief, imbalances and difficulties we carry while still finding a way to live alongside them.

This is why my work around death and sacred transition remains so important to me. It isn't a departure from the work I have been doing. It's at the heart of it...because..

The goal is not to heal everything.
The goal is to live.

And when the time comes, none of us should have to navigate the end of this life alone.

So if you need me, I’m here 💕

With love,

Chandra